Ep. 99 | 3 Mistakes Preventing You From Loving Your Job In Vet Med (& How To Change That)

Feeling stuck, burned out, or at a crossroads in veterinary medicine—even though you thought this career would feel fulfilling?

In this episode, I break down three common mistakes that may be preventing you from truly loving your job in vet med—and how to start shifting toward a more aligned, sustainable, and fulfilling path.

We talk about why focusing on what’s “reasonable” can keep you stuck, how hustle culture success can leave you feeling empty, and why reconnecting with your core values is one of the most powerful ways to create real change.

If you’ve been feeling like you look good on paper but don’t actually feel good in your day-to-day life, this episode will help you start thinking differently about what’s possible.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. I am a certified health and life coach, not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Please consult with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your physical or mental health routines. If you are experiencing a crisis, seek help from a qualified professional or contact emergency services.

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! 

To learn more about my approach and the programs and free resources available to support you, visit my website: www.lifeboost.today

I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Transcript

0:09

Welcome to the Life Boost with Amelia podcast where we're changing the narrative around what true health and success look like. They should give you energy, not drain it. I'm your host, Dr. Amelia multi-passionate integrative health and life coach, entrepreneur, and recovered burnout veterinarian. Together, we'll explore the science behind how your brain and body work, including the unconscious mind while also connecting with what your heart needs in order to stand up to the norm of feeling stuck on a hamster wheel-working hard yet feeling exhausted and not where you want to be- and instead live a life that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning and in love with who you see when you look in the mirror. The reality is if you do what everyone else is doing, you're not going to feel good. Let's break the norm.

amelia 0:59

hello. Today we are talking about three mistakes preventing you from absolutely loving your job in vet Med and what to do about it. And I'm gonna talk about this today because I have been connecting with many vets who are feeling at a crossroads, are feeling maybe on the verge of burnout or wondering their next career step. And then I've also been hearing a lot of talk about negativity in the workplace, and so this is so connected to both of those things. It's going to help you to find the most aligned, fulfilling path in vet med.. So mistake number one is focusing on how you think you should be doing vet med, or what you think is reasonable. So often when I am connecting with other vets and I'm asking, what would your ideal scenario be? They're already, their answer is already focused on what they think is reasonable versus what they would absolutely love. And so that is the first thing that I recommend is allowing yourself to not have to figure out the logistics, not having to be reasonable. Really just allowing yourself to dream. What would your ideal scenario be? This is really important because otherwise, if you are already starting to think about what you think is reasonable, you're gonna negotiate yourself down. And so even if you get what you are asking for, it's not going to feel totally fulfilling. So when you take the time to write out a description of what your dream job would be, this is really helping to manifest and manifesting is not this new thing. It really is helping to prime your very brain to notice opportunities that are available to you so that the logistics work out afterwards. So to give you some examples, when I was in my journey recovering. At that point, I was working as an associate and I was pretty fulfilled. I was already recovering. I wasn't looking for another job, but I did have a manifestation list and I knew what I wanted in the future, and I just didn't think that was available to me quite yet. And out of the blue, a recruiter reached out to me, and typically I would've just turned them down. But I knew that there were these things that I wanted, and so I was open to just having a conversation and in sharing on honestly what I wanted for the next step in my career. They introduced me to an opportunity that I had no idea existed, but it ended up being. Perfect. Like I, it felt like it was too good to be true, and yet it, it really was that great. It was perfect for me in that step, and it allowed me to move into doing more relief work, but in a way where I felt very supported and it made it very easy and I was able to have so many of the things, like the flexibility that I wanted, I was even able to be, uh. Contributing to wellbeing and writing articles and supporting in that way. And so it's a nice example of how just putting out and allowing yourself to be honest about what you want. Is going to help you to connect with those opportunities. Another example, I worked in urgent care for a while and in many ways I loved that environment, but I was missing the, being able to do acupuncture. That was something that I was certified in, but it was harder to do in the urgent care setting. And so because I allowed myself to be honest about what I would really want. I ended up working out with the owner. There was an opportunity where I could actually be doing my own kind of side acupuncture thing using the building because they weren't open in the mornings. Um, and that was going to be an opportunity for me. Soon after I ended up accepting another, moving on to a different position. But again, that was the type of thing where. That's not necessarily something that I would've thought was reasonable, but just allowing myself to be honest about things that I wanted and starting to have conversations around that the logistics worked out. So first, allow yourself to dream right now. Maybe take just a few minutes to write out what would your dream scenario be. Or after this, you know, carving out five minutes. The second mistake I see is chasing after hustle culture success instead of holistic success. And so what I mean by that is. Holistic or hustle culture success tends to lead us always chasing after more, or chasing after external validation. Trying to look good on paper, but not necessarily feeling good. It really can create this carrot on the stick. Approach where you're just always chasing after the next thing, thinking as soon as I achieve this, as soon as I make it to this job, as soon as I graduate, then things are going to feel better. But the reality is that moment when you reach that milestone is a snap second, and then it moves on, right? Life keeps happening. There are other challenges, and so then you think, oh, okay, well now as soon as I do this. But that really creates this self-sacrificing situation where it never feels like in the moment you have arrived. And so often that's because that your nervous system hasn't learned how to feel enough. You have probably been rewarded for just always chasing after the next thing being graded. And so instead really take some time to think about what. Does success feel like to me? And also what would that look like in a holistic way? So instead of just thinking about a title or finances, compensation, and what that would mean, really look at it from a holistic perspective, thinking about physical factors, mental factors, time, social, financial, and even like spiritual or a sense of purpose. Thinking about, okay, what would success and abundance feel like in all of those aspects? And so what I mean by that is when I talk about physical success, how do you wanna feel in your body? What kind of things help you to feel good, whether that's a workout class, what kind of, who do you want to be nurturing your body with? Are there certain signs in your body that are feeling off? Maybe it's this feeling. You kind of know that, uh, your career or your stress is taking a toll on the way that you feel physically and thinking about what would feel successful. How would my energy be when I think about mental success, right? It's like, how do you wanna feel about yourself? How do you wanna feel when you go into bed at night? Do you wanna feel proud of yourself at the end of the day? Do you wanna feel fulfilled? Do you wanna be able to turn off your mind so it's not racing? What does that look like? And what would be important to help you to get there? When you think about time wealth, this is such a huge one, especially because with hustle culture success, this very often is sacrificed or we think, oh, as soon as I work so much, then I'll eventually be able to enjoy this. I really, what used to be just like before the 30 I was counting down for retirement because I imagined that was when I would actually get to enjoy my life. I, after. All those years of hard work, instead of thinking, what do I need now to be able to feel like I have time to do the things that help me to feel fulfilled now in case I don't even make it to a to retirement. So thinking about what are the type of things that you wanna have time for now? For me, a big one was traveling. I used to feel like, oh, I had such a small amount of PTO. It felt like I really had to ration that there were all these places that I wanted to go, and I, it felt like it was hard to take time off and it was very limited. And so for me, it was thinking about, okay, how can I have more flexibility in my schedule? How can I get. More time off. Thinking about social, what does that look like? What connections are going to bring abundance to your life in terms of friendships, partners, who do you wanna be surrounded by and really thinking, do you have time right now to be connecting with the people who are really important to you? Financial, of course, is a piece of success, and so certainly it's important to have enough and really thinking about what is enough for you? What are the things that you wanna be, do want to be able to do that are important in your life that help you to feel successful? But noticing that that's not the only factor. And so sometimes is there something that may bring less compensation, but it still is enough. You're able to have the basic things that you need to feel comfortable. But does could that mean that you have more physical, mental social time, abundance? And is that, does that actually help you to feel like you have arrived at success? And also thinking about whether it's spiritual or just a sense of purpose, what does that look like for you? Do you know what helps you to feel truly fulfilled and to have a sense of purpose in order to have some kind of connection to spirituality so that you feel connected to something greater or something that feels meaningful. We'll talk a little bit more about having a sense of purpose in a minute, but this is really helpful to get clear on, and this is also going to help you to continue to build on that vision of what is would your dream job be. As you are thinking about these, this is helping to get even more clear and descriptive because when you are manifesting, the more specific you can be, the better. And this is, can also be really helpful for negotiating. So all of what I'm talking about, it doesn't mean that you have to have, it doesn't even mean you have to change your job now necessarily. This can be so helpful for having a conversation, having clarity yourself first about what do you need in order to feel more fulfilled, to have more balance in your life, to feel success. And it can be helpful for negotiations. And so for example, for me, when I got clear like, you know, one thing that would make a huge difference for me is to have more flexibility. I was able to negotiate and to get much more P-T-O-P-T-O time then I even thought was possible. So much so that I didn't feel like I needed to. Worry and ration that vacation time anymore. And that all happened because I was clear on what I wanted and I had that courage to have that conver that conversation. And it can be easy to think that you are being high maintenance or to feel bad when you are trying to have these kinds of conversations when you are negotiating, when you are looking for boundaries. The reality is this is such a gift to your employer. Because you are helping them to understand how to help you to feel valued and supported. It's so important because the alternative is that you don't tell them you don't feel happy, and eventually you're going to leave for another opportunity or you're going to be burned out. And so having these conversations and this dialogue really helps them to understand how to support you. So that you can make a little switch. Sometimes that can make a big difference. It could even be, ooh, there's this fitness class that I really wanna go to and I never feel like I can get out on time in order to make it do it. But that would really make a difference. And having a conversation about what needs to happen so that you could go to that class. Or maybe you want to have a little extra time in the mornings. And having a conversation. Sometimes it's a little switch that could really make such a huge difference in terms of you feeling like you have a work life balance. So think, think about that as you are creating your dream job scenario. And then thinking about all those categories of different types of wealth, what would that look like? And then the third mistake is not being connected to your core values. So if you haven't already, I highly recommend taking some time to get clear on what your core values are, and I recommend having maybe two to four and core values are really when you think about all the things that bring you joy, that are fulfilling, that you're drawn to. When you boil all of those down, there is probably two to four words or categories that are at the root of all of those. And when you get clear on that, they really can become a beautiful guiding light. To give you an example for me, my core values are connection, adventure, wellbeing, and influence. When I think about anything that I'm drawn to, anything that brings me joy, anything that helps me to feel alive, it is so connected to those and it really can help to provide clarity if you are feeling on the verge of burnout, because there's probably something that is disconnecting you from those. To give you an example during COVID, I, early on in COVID, that was when I was feeling really burned out and looking back it makes so much sense. It makes so much sense when I think about connection. I was not having the connection with pet owners that I typically had, and that was a part of practicing that was really fulfilling to me. That brought me a lot of joy. I loved connecting with the pet owners and so suddenly we had masks. It was hard to read faces, and I wasn't even seeing them. They were in their cars. I was on the phone, and so. And I wasn't connecting, you know, with friends or family, and so that was really decreasing my quality of life and sense of fulfillment. When I realized that was what was happening though, I was able to, even without the situation or circumstances changing, to start finding more joy. By challenging myself thinking, okay, I'm gonna learn how to make better connections when I am talking to the pet owners on the phone. And that became something that instead of feeling draining, it was a new challenge and it helped me to really be present with them and to connect more. And so this is also really helped me as I was moving in my career to think about when I went into relief work that really. Lit me up. I loved the sense of adventure of getting to go to a new place, getting to meet new people. It also meant that I had complete flexibility of my schedule, and so I was able to travel more. And so that sense of adventure was really fulfilled. Thinking about wellbeing and of course what I do now the work as a integrative health and life coach, it is so aligned with all of those core values. And so thinking about what your core values are can really help you to think about, is there a little switch that you can make that can help you to feel more fulfilled? Or is there, is it maybe that right now there's kind of a mismatch between your workplace, the your values in practicing and your practice's values? And one thing I really recommend to take it a step further is to think about the things that are feeling most draining in vet Med right now, or the most challenging scenarios and really thinking about. How can you navigate that in a way that helps you to stay true to your values? And this is a great exercise to do as a veterinary hospital as well, because it's important. So often they have values, but in order to feel fulfilled at the end of the day, really thinking about, okay, so. If it is a practice that says like we treat your pet like our own, what specifically does that look like when you have a pet that comes in or a puppy with Pargo and the owner doesn't have any money though, that's such an important conversation to have as a team in order to think, what does that look like? How can we have that scenario and still feel like we are staying true to our values? And so thinking about also how do your values tie in with your practices values? So if you haven't figured out your values yet, a great thing, what you've already been doing in terms of thinking about your dream job description, thinking about the different types of wealth and like physical, mental time, social, all of those things. That's already giving hints of what could be contributing and think about what are the things you are drawn to. So when you think about things to talk about, what's something that you just would, oh, you could talk about forever. When you are looking at online or magazine, what are you really drawn to? What are the things that really light you up in life? And taking some time thinking about what is at the root of that. And Brene Brown has, um, I think it's from her Dare to Lead book. If you just Google that you'll, she has a great PDF of different words that can be inspiration. So you can also look at what words are you drawn to. So those are three places to start. If right now you are just feeling like you're looking good on paper, but you're not really feeling good and. It's so important to know that you really can make vet med work for you. When I went into Vet Med, I feel like, I felt like there was really one way of doing it. You know, I was gonna be an associate, maybe I would own one day, and I kind of felt like no matter where I went, I would be the same. And that is so not true. You really can make that med work for you. When you allow yourself to be honest about what you want and you take some time to really get clear about what lights you up. And if you would like support exploring that, then that is what my aligned success reboot is for. So that is a six month integrative mind body coaching experience and community for driven professionals who want to thrive in their career with less overwhelm and less hustle. You wanna feel good in your body with less restriction and to have time and energy for you without guilt. And this is a space where we really help you to reconnect with yourself, your body, in so many ways. We are taught to just push through to ignore our bodies, and the reality is that your body and nervous system really are your compass. For navigating health and success in a way that feels good. And so this is for you if you want to have energy left at the end of the day. To be a human outside of vet Med, you want to feel more comfortable navigating challenges. You wanna feel comfortable having boundaries. You really want to improve your communication and leadership, and you just want healthy habits that are actually enjoyable instead of feeling like another obligation. That is what we do here. And there are lots of ways that I support you. There's group and individual support, so that includes weekly group coaching calls. Those are also recorded. There's a monthly deep healing and unconscious unblocking call, and that is where we really help to create change at the unconscious level. So often anything that is feeling stuck or challenging is really deep in your nervous system. There is a private. Uh, life Boost website that has lots of self-paced courses where I also provide individual feedback. So that's on topics ranging from nervous system regulation boundaries, decreasing your stress to things like nutrition, gut health, blood sugar. We look at the mind and body together. And there are lots of other things like community forum where you can connect with others, you can ask questions anytime. I'm always adding new webinars, a private podcast. There are so many ways that I can support you in that space. And so there's also private onboarding where I get to understand you, your specific challenges and goals, and I'm able to give you customized. Um, advice on where to start, how to make the most of that first month with working with the energy and capacity that you have. So if you are interested in learning more, you can comment, curious, and I will send you the link to a page that just has more information. When you click take the first step, that will send you to some short questions that you can fill out, and that's just a way for us to start a conversation to see if it is the right fit for you. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. And please just know if right now you're feeling stuck or unfulfilled in VetMed, it does not have to stay that way. Um, this is a great place to start, but I'm also happy to chat with you, so just send me a message. Thanks.